DreamStoryVerse Story Arc Book 3

The Trial

It was time for the trial to commence.

After much deliberation and evaluation of Lodewijk's mental state and his vampirism, the court decided that it would consider him a minor, but would still try him in adult court because his charges were so severe. However, if he was sentenced, he would serve his punishment in a juvenile detention facility.

This sparked even more debates and whatnot with the rest of the world, who were already buzzing about Ludwig and the allegations. So much for not ruining his reputation. It had gone down the toilet and there would be no getting it back. And all for something Ludwig had never done. Something he would never do, something he hadn't even known about until Matera Shariee had come forward.

Ludwig decided he would try and stay positive. Now that they've hit rock bottom, they couldn't fall any lower.

Because Lodewijk was being tried as a minor, Kooky was forced to attend the trial as his "parental guardian". Kooky made sure Lodewijk knew that if he really were his child, he would've been one disappointed parent. Lodewijk wasn't sure if their real father, Johann, would've been all that disappointed though, considering he didn't seen to care about the well-being of women and children.

Lodewijk was given special handcuffs that disabled his magic. This was an obvious precaution to ensure there was no funny business from the prisoners, but this also rendered him unable to cast the hearing perma-spell on himself, so he wore his hearing aids to the trial.

He wasn't able to speak functional Fruitish either, so they hooked him up with a collar that would translate his German speech to them, and translate their Frutish speech back to him. It even used wireless connection technology that transmitted their translated speech directly into his hearing aids.

Of course, there was some magic allowed in the courtroom, such as the spell that allowed Lodewijk and Kooky to remain separated and the truth spells cast on defendants and plaintiffs. The spells didn't exactly force people to tell the truth, but it alerted the caster when they weren't exactly being truthful.

Kooky marveled at how advanced the Fruit Kingdom legal system had become, considering they were generally behind on all the magic technology.

The judge sat at a table at the very back of the courtroom. In front of him, the clerk sat at another table. And in front of them, there were four wooden tables where the barristers and solicitors sat. The people of the jury filled the booths on the right side of the room. Being the defendant, Lodewijk sat at a curved wooden desk in the center of the room. Matera Shariee and her party sat in wooden booths behind him.

"Good morning." The judge greeted them, and everyone replied accordingly. Then he told everyone to sit down aside from Lodewijk.

"Would you please identify yourself?" The clerk requested.

"Lodewijk von Koopa."

"Your address?"

"I don't believe we have one, and if we do, I don't know it."

"Alright. Would you like to read out the charges?" The judge asked the clerk.

The clerk nodded. "There are two charges against you that I need to report this morning. But before I do, I have to make sure that you understand that if you are guilty of the following offenses and you plead guilty straight away, that's when the court will be able to impose the greatest reduction of your sentence. Alternatively, if you are not guilty of the offense and you plead not guilty, there will have to be a real trial, and if you are found guilty, your sentence will likely be greater. Do you understand this?"

Lodewijk paused as he waited for the translation to finish. "Yes."

The clerk nodded. "Alright. Like I said before, there are two charges against you. The first is grievous bodily harm against Matera Shariee von Koopa. The second is for the rape of Matera Shariee von Koopa. Do you plead not guilty or guilty?"